My old bad weather / winter bike served my for the last 3 years. But by the end of last winter, I noticed that I had to put a lot of money into it to serve me for another winter. Most of the parts where really worn and there were other problems like a seatpost that was stuck in the frame. So instead of putting money into my old bike, I decided to build up a new one.

I didn't want to put a lot of money into this bike, since I have multiple other bikes that I'm using for racing and training during the spring/summertime. So I was looking for a cheap aluminium frame to build up with some mid-level components. Sometime ago I spotted a nearly used Cannondale Six13 frame.

I always liked the looks of this frame and remembered me of the "legalize-my-Cannondale days" where Cannondale was questioning the 6.8kg UCI limit. The only drawback from this frame is that it had some galvanic corrosion problems where the carbon tubes where bonded to the aluminium pieces. Like you see on these photo's:

I decided to pick-up the frame for a bargain and planned to remove the clear coat and corrosion underneath. On the aluminium parts I removed most of the clear coat with paint stripper. And on the carbon tubes I removed the clear coat with the razor blade technique and sanding. Finally after lots of hours I got rid of the clear coat and corrosion.

I had seen some nice polished bikes on the web. And instead of repainting the frame, I decided to polish the aluminium parts of the frame and apply a new clear coat on the carbon parts. I also ordered a new sticker set in chrome to match the frame.

Most of the other components I bought trough ebay or other second hand places. So I kept the budget down. Last weekend I gathered all the parts and I could begin to build up. I also wired my SRM through the downtube, so I had to drill some holes in the bottom bracket.

I'm really pleased with the finale result. I still waiting om some small bits, like another seatpostclamp and topcap. And maybe I will slam the stem.You can see the final result below. For the photo's I putted some of my good weather wheels on.

Last edited by The Green Flame on Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:36 am, edited 2 times in total.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm now thinking of polishing the SRM cranks to get the same finish as the frame.

@Calpol: After I removed the clearcoat I polished the frame with two different polishing compounds and two different polishing wheels. And after that I polished it by hand with Mother's aluminium polish and a microfibre cloth.

@Bura: There is no clear coat on top of the polished aluminium. So it could be that the polished aluminium looses its shine. I don't have any experience with this, since this is the first time I polished a frame. I did some research on the internet and some say that it's easy to maintain this finish when you threat the frame with some car wax. And polish it now and then with some Mother's aluminium polish. Time will tell. I could always coat the frame.

@BeeBee30: It's not so hard to get this result. You just need the right tools, time and pacience. And at the moment I'm happy that I'm finally done with my frame.

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